Local indices remain in red terrain in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red terrain in morning deals on the back of weak global cues. Sentiments remained down-beat with report stated that under the Trump administration, US-India tensions have increased over each side’s tariff policies. It also noted that the two sides have also held concerted negotiations to address these trade frictions. Market participants also took a note of Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan’s statement that the coronavirus pandemic has turned the clock back by many years and the lockdowns have raised insurmountable barriers and imposed many roadblocks. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has released the tenth installment of Rs 6,000 crore to the states to meet the GST compensation shortfall, taking the total amount provided so far under this window to Rs 60,000 crore. The Centre had set up a special borrowing window in October 2020 to meet the estimated shortfall of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in revenue arising on account of implementation of GST. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases in several parts of the world and uncertainty ahead of two key Senate run-off elections in Georgia later today.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47973.73, down by 203.07 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 47903.38 and 48129.79. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.08%, while Small cap index was down by 0.29%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was IT up by 0.06%, while Metal down by 1.33%, Auto down by 1.12%, PSU down by 1.11%, Energy down by 1.04% and Power down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.00%, HDFC up by 1.72%, TCS up by 0.79% and Titan Company up by 0.16%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.37%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.90%, NTPC down by 1.77% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur has said the central government is making efforts to turn India into a manufacturing and export powerhouse. Thakur said manufacturing will now be broad-based in the country.

He said ‘we are expanding the domestic manufacturing base and diversifying international trade.’ He said the post-COVID world will be different and businesses have to adjust to disruptions. Further, he mentioned that nature of global economy has changed where multilateral negotiations have shifted to bilateral deals.

Talking about agriculture reforms which have met with protests from the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, Thakur said ‘the Congress under UPA wanted to do it. But it did not have the courage… We are trying to do whatever possible (about the protests).’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14071.60, down by 61.30 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 14048.15 and 14115.70. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 1.98%, HDFC up by 1.87%, TCS up by 0.72%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.47% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.88%, ONGC down by 2.37%, Hindalco down by 2.34%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.32% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 105.01 points or 0.39% to 27,153.37, Hang Seng decreased 83.85 points or 0.31% to 27,388.96, Straits Times trembled 8.10 points or 0.28% to 2,850.80, KOSPI fell 4.59 points or 0.16% to 2,939.86 and Shanghai Composite declined 1.76 points or 0.05% to 3,501.20.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 13.66 points or 0.22% to 6,118.56 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 16.36 points or 0.11% to 14,918.39.